Innovative staff

• Collaborate and lead by example. Acknowledge that people resist trying new things when they fear failure, and educate others. Also talk openly about it being an unattainable goal for people to do something perfectly on their first try, if ever. Avoid working in isolation and focusing solely on personal achievements; instead, seek out collaborative work relationships that are inspirational, and enable sharing of both progress and setbacks. Become energized by opportunities to transfer knowledge from experimentation efforts. Seek feedback to continuously improve. This process helps staff develop an innovative mindset, as discussed in Chapter 2.
• Replace failure with experimentation. Stop using words like “failure” and instead use those like “experiment” to create an immediate change of perspective related to mistakes, missteps, or unexpected outcomes. Replace the fear of taking a first step with curiosity and an interest in trying something new. Turn problems into opportunities, and minimize risk by reframing results as experiments. Replace the “all or nothing" approach of the former vernacular (e.g., success and failure) with an incremental approach to testing, trying, adjusting, and retesting. All of these office lingo changes can help prime leaders and others to be more comfortable with some levels of acceptable risk and open up the culture to be a little more tolerant of risk.

• • At the semiconductor company AMD, leaders set up “leapfrog teams” comprised of groups of engineers who simultaneously work on successive generations of core chip designs. The chip undergoes multiple rounds of experiments and modifications, with a focus on knowledge transfer. In the process, teams ensure consistent communication, preserve knowledge, and enforce best practices that can help spur innovation.¹

• Focus on the continuous learning cycle. Set the tone in the office by openly communicating about experiments that do not go as anticipated. Help make it a safe environment for everyone to talk about the unexpected as results that need to be analyzed instead of failures that need to be hidden. Demonstrate how people can learn from experiments instead of being shamed for “failed" or “wrong” results. Encourage the sharing of experimental outcomes, and seek input from others to improve upon future results. Continue the experimental cycle until either desired results are achieved or new outcomes take the project in a different direction. Communicate that each attempt increases the probability of an eventual success.